2010 Census: Households and Families

Today the Census Bureau released the 2010 Census Brief on the nation's 116.7 million households. These are some of the most important findings...

• Married couples account for fewer than half of households (48 percent).
• The number of nuclear families (married couples with children under age 18) fell by 1.2 million between 2000 and 2010, to 23.6 million households (20 percent of total households).
• People living alone are a larger share of households (27 percent) than nuclear families. They are the second most common household type after married couples without children under age 18 (28 percent).
• Average household size fell slightly, from 2.59 people in 2000 to 2.58 people in 2010.
• Unmarried partner households grew by 41 percent to 7.7 million (7 percent of total households). Of these, 646,000 are same-sex unmarried partners.
• Ten percent of married couples have partners of a different race or Hispanic origin.  
• Multigenerational households (defined as households with three or more generations of relatives) grew from 3.9 million to 5.1 million between 2000 and 2010 and account for 4 percent of households.

Source: Census Bureau, Households and Families: 2010, 2010 Census Brief